


Apollyon's Wrath

by MessyScandinoodle



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, Sci-Fi, cosmic horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-11-17 19:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18104918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MessyScandinoodle/pseuds/MessyScandinoodle
Summary: A world with little left to it but suffering and scattered remains is no place to live. Yet here they are.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is short because I truly don't know where I'm going with this. Will's question was in my head so it had to be put down in writing.

“Do you think it can hear us, like we can hear it?” 

 

The question was left unanswered for a brief moment. It made Hannibal’s face pinch in a way Will hadn’t seen before. “I don’t think it- It’s not sentient. It can’t be.” 

Yet the question made the pit of his stomach tighten in a way that only recently it had learned to do. It was always in a state of taught anxiety, but on occasion something more made his insides bunch up like tangled wires. 

 

He had the urge to gaze at it, but there was no way to. Not where they were. Deep underground where it couldn’t hurt them. Yet it’s low thrumming could be heard all the same. An awful white noise like a vacuum cleaner that never shut off, and buzzed inside your head. 

 

“I don’t know anymore.” Will replied softly, unsure why he had even asked. Something to ponder to pass the time perhaps. “What I do know, is that we have to go find something to eat soon.” 

“I know. The cycle should be done soon, and then we can go find something.” he reassured, and then looked to his wristwatch. Who knew if it was accurate. There was really know real way to tell time anymore. 

 

“We always said that time is an illusion. Made up by man to make sense of what we can’t comprehend. Invented to give us some meaning to the day, and the night. A small comfort in a sense. Order where there is none… If only we could invent something now. Something that could make sense of all of this. I just w-” 

 

“Hannibal, don’t. Don’t start. I get what you’re saying, but don’t. It’ll only drive you insane.” 

 

Insanity seemed to creep around in the shadows. Anywhere the artificial light couldn’t touch, it was waiting to attack. It felt tangible to them, in that small space beneath the earth. Will had made it a point to try and make it so less and less shadows were cast. The creature, insanity, hid in those shadows. The shadows reminded him of sunlight. He wished to never think of either ever again. 

 

It had taken Jack. A darkness so deep and incomprehensible had injected itself into the very matter of his brain. Perhaps Bella had passed it to him when she died. Perhaps it was Bella, coming back from the grave to give him no choice but to join her. To take control of him, and make him stand out into the light. Too bright, too close, too _loud._ What had once nourished the earth like a gentle mother was now a looming god, angry at its creation. Punishing them for every misdead man had ever done. It had turned everything upside down, and ripped the fabric of logic to shreds.   
What was worst for Will, is that Jack had come to his senses while out there. Had come back and came running to the door, where Will watched through the tinted glass with horrified eyes. He beat on the door, but Will could not open it. It was too late. They would all die if he came back in now. 

So Will watched as his beating turned to weak tapping, as bone became exposed and his flesh stuck to the door. His cries for help, his begging, became nonsensical gurgles from lungs that were filling with. With what? Blood? Fluids? He wasn’t sure. Until Jack became a puddle, and Hannibal finally tugged him away from the door. It haunted him. 

 

“We should be able to leave soon.” Hannibal simply replied, then listened closely. The awful thrumming was receding. He wished it would disappear completely. Forever. He knew that wouldn’t happen. Not in his lifetime. Not in anyone’s lifetime. The sun would swallow the earth whole before it would ever let them find peace again. 


	2. On The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Hannibal venture out to find food, and accidentally find a companion as well.

“It’s gone.” Will confirmed, looking out the peephole. He opened the heavy shelter door, and despite his heavy gear, could feel the bitter wind that pushed in. He quickly stepped out, Hannibal following after him. 

“We have at least eight hours. That should be plenty of time.” He checked his watch to make sure, and a small chart he had drawn out. It was mostly based on the noise than anything he could see. It was too dangerous to look into the light too often. “This isn’t completely accurate, but eight hours should give us a little bit of extra time, just in case I’ve calculated incorrectly.” 

Will nodded, and began to walk across the burnt earth, now covered in frost. The heat of the day was unbearable for most life forms. The cold of the night could make a person hypothermic in seconds. Hannibal and Will had worked together to create protective gear for hunting. 

 

Thick coats with near impenetrable lining, fibers so tightly woven perhaps not even the sun could get through. Gloves, and face guards. The face guards were much more like helmets. They covered the entire head, the exterior being made out of light abliminium, a steel like resource that was brought back from the other reaches. It held the same structural integrity, with only a fraction of the weight. The eye pieces were made from thick red glass, in the case that light was present when they ventured out. A small wired piece within made it easy to communicate between them. There was an attachment for oxygen tanks as well, but they hadn’t needed them. The sun hadn’t killed all of the plant life yet.

 

“Where should we even begin?” Will asked, voice slightly distorted through the wire piece. Hannibal hated how it altered his voice. 

“Lets just head west. If I’ve heard right from the radio, they may be people that way.” Granted the radio hardly was able to hold signal anymore. It was mostly dead static, but occasionally a voice came through. He assumed it was some sort of encampment communicating to each other. They just only got one piece of the signal. 

 

Will lead the way west, fighting against the wind. His stomach was aching from hunger. Their dry goods were starting to run low, and he had been withholding himself from indulging. Despite Hannibal’s nagging, and knowing that starvation let the madness in. He wouldn’t deprive Hannibal. His mind was stronger as it was. He was more likely to make it. It was inevitable that it would take him far before it took Hannibal. The quiet of the walk, the mindless direction let his mind wander. 

 

_ “She speaks to me! She speaks to me!”  _ He was back at the base, Jack pasing the floor. 

 

“Who’s speaking to you?” 

 

_ “She.”  _ It had taken him. Perhaps he had sat too close to the shadow his lamp made in his room. Perhaps it was losing Bella. 

“She’s gone, Jack. She can’t talk to you.” He was trying to speak calmly, to try and de-escelate. Just like he would have when the world was normal. When he had a gun and a badge. He used to think things were so complicated back then… fool. 

 

_ “No, you don’t understand. SHE!”  _ Jacks voice boomed, amplified by the small space they were in. Then he went to the door. Opened it. That’s when it happened. 

 

“Will!” Hannibal’s voice jerked him back to reality, along with a tight arm around his waist. He looked down, standing just a few feet away from the edge of a large fissure in the damaged ground. 

“Will you look at me.” He obeyed, and turned to Hannibal. His red eyes were even more startling through the tinted glass. “Don’t do it. You stay with me. Don’t let your mind wander.” 

 

There was no understanding as to how it happened. Whether it was daydreaming, shadows, grief, cabin fever, perhaps superstition. Something was taking everyone. Just like it took Jack. Just like it took Alana. It had to do with the sun. He knew it. Hannibal didn’t believe that though. He stood fast to the idea that although the star was far too close, that it was plain insanity taking everyone. Cabin fever. Fear. It was just an accumulation of emotions. He still didn’t like to take his chances with Will though. Will tried to think just as rationally. Lest it take him too. 

 

“I’m sorry. I just drifted off for a moment. I’m sorry.” He shook his head, and turned to go the correct way again. It was a lie. He just didn’t want him to think he had been day dreaming. 

 

Sleepwalking had become a common occurrence for both of them. There was no way to keep the day and night cycle their bodies required. The sun would be out for days, maybe weeks at a time before the night would come. They tried to keep things stocked. Tried to alternate the lights, tried to create artificial light. It wasn’t working. Fatigue was setting in. Another danger with the shadows.

  
  


Will wasn’t sure how much time had passed. How far they had walked when he saw a light. It had to have been a few hours he knew, his feet hurt, and he felt sweat dampening the inside of his clothes. Hannibal was the time keeper. He didn’t trust himself. He lost time too easily. It could get them killed. 

 

They both seemed to freeze at seeing the light at first, unsure if it was natural or not. A quick assessment proved it was unnatural light. A flashlight, or lantern. Will’s heart began to race. They had gone the right way. They were going to be able to eat again. 

 

“You know what to do.” Hannibal reassured, then broke away from him, going towards the north west now, flanking out around the light. Will went the opposite direction, starting to feel shaky from the nerves. He was always afraid of causing some faux pas that would cheat them of a meal.

 

He kept his eyes trained on the light as it became brighter. He tried to take cover around whatever he could. The struggling trees and unnatural juts from the earth kept him hidden enough. He was now close enough to see the outline of a person, and something else. He couldn’t identify it at first from where he was. He could feel the cold through his coat as he crawled on his belly, trying to get a better look. A dog. It had to be. It was covered in a coat, and seemed to have some sort of face guard on as well. But Will could tell a dog when he saw one. He didn’t think he’d ever see a dog again. 

 

“Location.” Hannibal asked through the wire, making Will jump just slightly. 

 

“I’m close. Hannibal… He has a dog.” 

 

“Are you sure? Will we really can’t-”    
  


“I know a dog when i see one, Hannibal. It’s a dog.” 

 

There was silence for a few moments before Hannibal let out a sigh, “Go.” He ordered. 

 

Will sprang up at that, and charged out of his cover towards the person. He was on him in just a few moments, and brandished a knife from his coat pocket. He drove it deep into the coat, right to the chest. Hannibal joined him almost at the same moment, grabbing the persons covered head and twisted it back violently. The body crumpled as the dog barked and ran around them, tail tucked. 

 

Immediately Will abandoned his task, and turned towards the dog. He sat down onto the ground. He pressed a button at the side of his faceguard that let him communicate to the outside world. “Hi buddy…” He greeted softly, “I know, and I’m sorry. You two would have died out here anyways though…” The dogs fittings were thin, and his feet were exposed. 

The dog stopped its running and stared at Will, before it cautiously approached. 

 

“Will. Please.” Hannibal practically begged. 

 

“No, Hannibal. Not this time. You won’t win this time.” He patted the dog on its coated back, then stood. “Wanna come with us, buddy?” 

 

The dog didn’t respond, but simply stood a few feet behind him. 

 

“He probably won’t follow.” Hannibal noted, and slung the dead body over his shoulder. “We’ve been gone for four hours. We should start heading back.” 

 

Will nodded sadly, and followed Hannibal back the way they had come. To Hannibal’s disappointment, the dog followed after them. 

  
  



End file.
